Adventure

A finales del siglo XVI, los Visitantes del Espacio han capturado a un cierto número de habitantes de la Tierra y los han trasplantados a un lejano planeta del sistema Tau Ceti, al que han dado el nombre de Dare. Allí, los raptados han erigido una civilización condicionada por la casi total falta de hierro en el planeta, pero los humanos no son los únicos habitantes del planeta: con ellos conviven también dragones, mandrágoras, hombres lobo... y principalmente, los hosrstels, seres de apariencia humana, detentadores de una civilización muy particular. Pero aunque convivan con los hombres y les ayuden en muchas de sus tareas, los horstels son considerados como animales, y las relaciones carnales entre humanos y horstels están penadas con la muerte por una sociedad puritana que vela por el más estricto apartheid. Hata que Jack Cage, hijo de un importante granjero de Dare, se enamora de Rli, la hija de un jefe horstels.

nul

Dare explores what might have happened if the lost colonies and lost ships of history might have been taken by aliens. The story focuses on the Roanoke colony and the descendants of that group - but other additions from other colonies are included as well. The aliens that transplanted the Roanoke people didn't place them on an empty planet - but on a planet that was already inhabited by another sentient race - the satyrs. The satyrs, in my eye, play very closely to the native American indians - viewed as lazy heathens by the Roanokers - but have a much closer relationship with the earth, the weather and the animals life. What starts out as a late renaissance era agrarian society ends up in a battle for survival against a technologically advanced group - with predictable results. But things get really interesting when a space craft from Earth arrives...

I was not terribly thrilled with this book. Jake seems very wishy-washy without convictions of his own. I don't know what R'li sees in him. The last part of the book, where most of the interesting bits happen seems to have been knocked out really quickly and without much detail. It's almost like Farmer had the premise of a book, but had to finish off the book to meet a deadline and didn't know how it was going to play out. ( )